http://www.loc.gov/mods/v3 http://www.loc.gov/standards/mods/v3/mods-3-2.xsd
ensuring authenticity in online research
Research of UK armed forces veterans is an area of growing research interest to inform policy and for clinical, psychological, and medical purposes. The internet provides an opportunity for qualitative and quantitative data to be collected about veterans, for them to be questioned, and to tell their stories wherever they are located. This approach is not without problems; the authenticity of individuals as bona fide veterans is easier to verify face to face, as are the control and management of ethical issues. This case study explores some of the difficulties of ensuring that research participants recruited online were valid veterans and how these were overcome using Facebook, an online survey, and material from a web page to collect both qualitative and quantitative data. The research project set out to try and determine why many veterans prefer to join very informally organized Armed Forces and Veterans Breakfast Clubs rather than the more formally structured and long established charitable veteran support organizations.
Electronic information resource searching
SAGE research methods: doing research online